Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House

10/21

Cara waved a hand in front of Jamie’s face. “Are you ok?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Um. Yeah. I’m just uh. I dunno.”

“Surprised?”

“Terrified.”

“Oh.”

“No, no, I’m still happy. It’s just. I mean. I was not expecting that.”

“Yeah. I knew there was a chance, but …”

“Yeah. Wow.”

“We can do this. I mean, we’ll need some help, what with your schedule and all, but it’s totally doable.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Totally.”

“At least I’ve got family with experience.”

“And obviously we can afford it.”

Cara chuckled. “Yeah at least I fell in love with a rich guy.”

That broke Jamie’s trance into a giggle. No matter the paycheck, big house, fancy car, he still couldn’t think of himself as rich. She loved to rib him about it because she thought it was cute. “Shut up.”

“I’m just saying you’re loaded.”

“We’re loaded.”

“All four of us,” she smiled.

“Four,” he grinned.

“You wanted a big family.”

“I wasn’t expecting to double it in one go.”

“Apparently your sperm are overachievers too.”

Jamie giggled. “They got a late start like me. Gotta catch up.”

“C’mon, let's go home and call our moms.”

“Oh man, mine’s gonna flip.”

“Mine is gonna laugh her head off. I gave Molly so much shit about being outnumbered.”

“Karma’s a bitch, eh?”

“Such a bitch. Someday I’ll learn to keep my mouth shut.”

“Liar.”

Cara smacked him on the arm but laughed. “Rude!”

“Honest.”

“Probably right, too,” she shrugged.

Wrapping her up in a big hug, Jamie kissed the top of her head. “Twins.”

“Yup.”

“Crazy.”

“Yup.”

“Ok baby mama, I’m ready.”

She smiled up at him. “Me too.”

…

“So does the team count as family?”

“Of course they do, J. If you want them to.”

“I do, yeah,” he smiled.

“It’s probably something you should tell management and PR anyway. In case of emergency.”

“True.”

“We should just have my family over for dinner and tell them all at once. Oh my gosh and I can get the twins — Molly’s twins I mean — in on it! They’d love that.”

“Yeah they would. They love conspiring.”

“You gonna tell your mom first? Or Jord?”

“If I tell Jordie first, our babies will be growing up without a father.”

“Mom it is!” she laughed.

“I’m gonna call her now before I explode or slip to Jord when I talk to him later. You want me to do it on speaker?”

“No, Love, you have your moment with your mama. Besides, if I see you start crying I’m gonna start bawling. Not that it takes much these days.”

“I am not going to cry on the phone with my mom.”

“Sure. You keep telling yourself that.”

“Shut up.” He couldn’t stop the blush and the grin on his face, though. “I’m going in the other room where you can’t make fun of me.”

“I’m gonna call my people. Dinner Sunday?” she called after him.

“Yeah, sure,” he yelled over his shoulder.

As his footsteps faded down the hallway, she called her mom, who picked up on the third ring.

“Hi, Mom. Are you and Dad busy Sunday? Do you think you could come up?”

“Sure, Sweetheart, I don’t think we have any plans. Everything ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, just hadn’t seen y’all in a while and Jamie’s got an off day, so we wanted to have a little family dinner. Gonna invite the sibs too. Watch the Cowboys, play some dominoes.”

“Oh that’ll be fun! Your dad can tell the boys they’ll have to yell at the tv without him this week.”

Cara laughed. “Sounds good. Y’all should spend the night so you don’t have to drive back after dinner. I’ll air out your room.”

“Yeah, that’ll be perfect. We can head back in the morning and be home in time for lunch.

“Great! See you Sunday then. Love you!”

“Love you too, Sweetie. See you then.”

After quick calls to her brother and sister, who also confirmed, she wandered into the bedroom, where she found Jamie still on the phone with his mother.

“I love you too, Mama. I’ll talk to you soon. Yeah, put him on.” He wiped at his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her when she giggled. “Hey Pops. … Yeah, twins, can you believe it? ... No, we won’t know that until probably the end of November. ... Nah, figured I’d better tell Mom before anyone else or she’d kill me. ... Yep. I’ll call Jordie next, then Jenny. ... Oh she’s gonna flip. ... Yeah thanks, Pops. Talk to you soon.”

Hanging up, he took a deep breath and smiled at Cara, motioning for her to come over to the chair where he was sitting. As she stood between his legs, he buried his face in her belly, kissing her as-yet-nonexistent baby bump before resting his forehead against it and closing his eyes. “Hi, babies. Your Nanny and Poppa said they can't wait to meet you. But it’s going to be a while before you’re ready, so just get comfortable in there.” Cara combed her fingers through his hair, tears trickling down her cheeks and falling to her shirt. After kissing her belly again, he looked up at her with a dreamy smile on his face, chuckling and shaking his head when he saw her tears.

“Everything ok?”

“Yep,” she laughed, “just hormonal and happy. And head over heels in love with the sweetest guy and his little twins.”

“Lucky guy.”

“Oh I assure you I am the lucky one.”

Pulling her down to sit on his lap, he kissed her, soft and slow but with meaning. “Let me call my brother and sister and then I’ll help you with dinner, ok?”

“Is that your way of saying you’re hungry?”

He smiled and nodded guiltily.

“Ok I’ll go get started. You can do the salad.”

“Yes, Chef.”

Cara kissed him softly. “Give Jen and Jord my love.” Then she stood and headed off to the kitchen, leaving him to blow his siblings’ minds.

45 minutes later, she was sitting on a barstool flipping through Instagram when Jamie came in, looking at his phone and saying “ok hold on just a sec.” He came up behind her and hooked his chin over her shoulder, kissing her cheek and putting his phone in front of them.

“Someone wanted to say hi to Aunt Cara.”

Jenny and her 16-month-old daughter smiled and waved at her on the screen.

“Hi girls!!” Cara squealed. “How is everybody up there?”

“We’re great,” Jenny replied. “Congratulations! I’m so excited for you guys! Has it hit you yet?”

Cara laughed. “That I’m pregnant? Yes. That it’s twins? No, not really. I’m sure all the laughing at my sister I did when she was pregnant is going to bite me in the tushie, though. How’s my favorite toddler?” she cooed.

“A handful,” Jenny laughed as Sophia tried to grab the phone. “But a joy.”

Cara, seeing Jamie’s beaming face in the corner of the screen, silently hoped at least one of their twins was a girl. His niece had him wrapped around her chubby little finger. She could only imagine the cuteness that she was in for with his own babies.

“Ok I won’t keep you. Jamie said he and Jordie got carried away and he was probably holding up dinner. Wave bye-bye, Soph!” she told the little girl in her lap, who did just that and then promptly squirmed out of her arms and ran off. “Well, I guess she’s done,” Jenny laughed. “I’m so happy for you two. Love you. Keep me updated, ok?”

“Will do. Love you,” Jamie chimed in as Cara waved and blew her a kiss.

“Sorry that took so long,” he apologized as he spun her chair around and kissed her.

“It’s ok, Love. I know Jordie’s your sounding board. I’m sure you needed it.”

“Yeah. It’s not that I can’t talk to you about it, I swear,” he said, “Jordie’s just … “

“Jamie. I get it. You think I won’t run to my sister with every fear and insecurity and hope I have about this pregnancy?”

He sighed. “Yeah, ok. That’s pretty much what I did. Feelings vomit.”

“Yep. That’s healthy. Gotta get it out.”

“He did say to give you a big hug for him.”

“Oh yay! I love hugs!” she laughed, holding her arms out.

Jamie chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her off the barstool into a bear hug.

Cara melted into the hug for a moment, then pulled away. “Ok, dinner? Maybe a movie?”

“Perfect. Salad chef on duty.”

“Chicken will be done in 10 minutes.”

“Excellent.”

They finished making dinner in comfortable silence, ate at the bar, then after cleaning up the dinner dishes, curled up on the couch, Cara’s head on Jamie’s lap and his hand absently rubbing her back. About 20 minutes into the movie, he looked down to find her fast asleep. He thought about turning off the tv and trying to move her to the bed, but she looked so peaceful that he didn’t want to disturb her. Opting to let her rest, he finished the movie before he carefully slid out from under her and then lifted her off the couch. She opened her eyes for a moment before closing them and burrowing her face into his neck contentedly as he carried her off to their bedroom.

…

While Jamie held court with the rest of the family, Cara found her nephews, who were playing bubble hockey, and motioned for them to follow her. “Hey you two, I need your help with something.” She led them into her room, where she whispered, “You wanna make your mom and granny squeal?”

“Like the time with the snake?” Keegan asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Better,” she grinned.

Harlan squinted at her. “Better?”

“Louder, probably. But it’s a secret, so you can’t yell when I tell you or you’ll ruin the surprise.”

“Gotcha,” they said in unison.

“That is so weird,” she chuckled.

The boys shrugged. “It’s a twin thing,” Harlan said.

“About that twin thing,” Cara smiled. “Did you know that twins run in families?” The boys nodded. “Well the reason Uncle Jamie and I asked everyone to dinner tonight is to tell y’all our big news. I’m pregnant, and we found out the other day we’re having twins.”

“Whoa, cool!” Keegan yelled.

Harlan clapped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “Shhhhhh!”

“Oh right, sorry. Boys or girls?”

“We don’t know that yet. But I want you two to help me surprise the rest of the family.”

“Sure, what do you want us to do?” Harlan asked.

“Just wear these at dinner.” She produced two black t-shirts with white writing. One said “Our aunt and uncle think twins are cool …” and the other “... so they’re having their own set.”

“That’s it?” Keegan asked. “That’s gonna make them squeal?”

“Oh most definitely,” she nodded.

“If you say so,” he shrugged.

“So you’ll do it?”

“Yeah, sure,” Harlan agreed. “Easy. There better be squealing though or you owe us.”

“Deal.”

The boys changed into their shirts and went back to playing bubble hockey. Cara rejoined the rest of the group. No one had even noticed her absence, assuming she was bustling around getting dinner ready. She sidled up to Jamie and ducked under his arm, nibbling on an appetizer and sipping a glass of ginger ale to settle her slightly queasy stomach. She had fortunately escaped morning sickness for the most part, but when her stomach was empty, it tended to get a little upset.

When the oven timer beeped, she excused herself to finish up, her mom following and offering to help. She tried to shoo her away, but it was futile and she knew it. So the two of them gathered everything and carried it into the dining room, then called the rest of the family in. Cara volunteered to fetch the twins from the other room, and no one questioned it.

No one noticed the shirts at first, too busy passing food around the table, but when everyone had filled their plate and conversation started back up again, Molly, sitting across from where they were sandwiched in between Jamie and Cara, squinted at the boys and tilted her head.

“Did you two change clothes?”

The twins looked at each other and grinned. “Maybe.”

“Can I ask why?” their mother prodded.

“What do those shirts say?” Jamie nudged.

“I can’t see,” Molly said. “Boys, stand up please.”

Olivia had the sense to read them aloud. When she got to the end, there was a pause while everyone tried to figure out what was going on. Cara’s brother, Sean, was the first to puzzle it out. His eyes widened. “Cara, are you really?”

Beaming, she nodded. Molly chimed in, “Is she what? Oh!” she gasped.

“What the heck are y’all talking about?” Cara’s dad asked, totally confused.

“Daddy, Cara’s pregnant!” Molly squealed. Then their mother squealed. The twins high-fived each other and yelled “with twins!” Liv shrieked “Oh my god!” and jumped out of her chair, almost knocking it over in her rush to run around the table and hug her aunt. Sean came around and shook Jamie’s hand before moving on to hug his sister.

When they had all managed to hug and congratulate the expectant parents, they sat back down, chattering excitedly while they ate, asking tons of questions and telling pregnancy stories and twin stories and parenting stories. Most of them laughed till they couldn’t breathe. Cara had to excuse herself twice to avoid wetting her pants. Jamie narrowly escaped choking on his wine during Brian’s story of the boys’ eventful birth.

After dinner and dessert, the siblings and their children headed home to get ready for another week of work and school, while Patrick, Colleen, Jamie and Cara cleaned up the table and kitchen, then sat down in the den to wind down a bit before bed. It was nearing ten o’clock when Cara’s yawning started to get out of hand, and she finally agreed to call it a night, tearfully hugging her parents and then shuffling off to bed.

A little while later, nestled into big spoon Jamie, she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, even though she could barely keep her eyes open. He kissed her cheek, his own grin uncontrollable as well.

“I dunno whether I’m more terrified or more calm than I was this morning. Maybe both,” he laughed.

“Definitely both for me. But also really excited.”

“Yeah me too. I’m glad they all came over. I feel like even if things don’t go smoothly, we’ll still be ok.”

“Yep. It’ll be an adventure.”

“I love this adventure,” he murmured in her ear, kissing next to it.

Hugging his arm around her and snuggling back into him, she sighed happily. “It’s the best.”

“Sweet dreams, Baby. And babies.”

Cara giggled. “Sweet dreams, Love.”

…

Jamie went in early for practice. Before his workout, he spoke to the Jims and Tom, who all congratulated him and told him to let them know if there was anything at all that he and Cara needed. Later, when the team was all in the locker room getting ready to skate, he stood at the front of the room, and Monty whistled to get their attention.

“Hey boys, Cap has something to tell you.”

“Thanks, Monty. So I have a little announcement. Good stuff, I promise, no freaking out,” he laughed.

“You finally can grow beard now?” Rads chirped, winking.

“Funny,” Jamie laughed. “Next time I shave, I’ll be sure I do it over your jock.” When the laughter died down, he continued. “So come playoff time, you guys are gonna have to pick up some slack for me, ’cause I might have to be gone for a game or two. Cara and I are expecting.”

One of the European rookies, still learning the language, didn’t understand the term. “Expecting?”

“A baby. She’s pregnant,” Bish offered, making baby belly motions with his hands. “That’s great, Jamie, congratulations.”

“Um, babies, actually,” Jamie corrected, grinning. “Twins.”

A chorus of “oh shit”s erupted around the room, followed by the guys coming up and slapping him on the back, shaking his hand, hugging him, and dumping Gatorade over his head.

When the playful shoving match died down, he peeled off his wet shirt and threw it at Klinger. “Thanks a lot, assholes, now I need to shower again,” he laughed. “Seriously though, thanks. But keep it quiet for a while, eh? We’re only telling family right now. Let us announce it officially before you start chirping me in public.”

“Aww, you hear that, fellas? We’re family.” Segs giggled, almost beaning Jamie with a tape ball. “You got it, Captain.”

“You’re obviously family, Seggy,” he grinned. “I’d pick better friends.”

“He’ll be here all week, gentlemen,” Monty shouted. “Two drink minimum, tip your servers. Now let’s get to work.”

Notes